Hi Lizard King, It turns out you are correct. I clarified with both ATO and Accountant this morning – your 12 months begins when you sign a contract to purchase a property, and ends when contract to sell is signed by both parties. (Probably to stop situations exactly like ours). Thanks heaps Lizard King.
Don & Liz, I accept your great advice, and shall certainly be checking in with Accountant etc in the future. This first one was a learning curve for us both in many ways. Although hubby has completed stunning work for others, this was the first one he’d attempted for himself (apart from PPOR which he’s finished off just beautifully). We are a team, but he’s a hands-on bloke – give him a task to complete and he’ll do his absolute best on it. He relies on me to do the thinking & business stuff for him – trust that weighs quite heavily on me, I might add. So I need to get smart in a hurry, if we are going to make a success of these renos. Hubby expects to receive his Builder’s Registration in a week or so, so we have more options in the future. He’s not interested in building homes for others, just doing stuff for us. Over the years, he has completed lots of houses, extensions, removal homes from the actual shift, re-stumping, right up to the finished item with the WOW factor for other people. Wants to do this for himself. We’re a little different to many people, in so much as he knows exactly what he’s doing, costs etc, it is my role in this that is the weak part.
I must explain also, this first house took so long to complete, as hubby had months off work with a malignant melanoma last year, and time got away on him. So I guess in the future, you will hear from me again, asking advice. Thank You each of you for your help, you have been great. Not one person who has replied has told me I was the dill I feel I am.

Hi again, Hutch, Thank You for your response. We hadn’t spoken to Accountant when we signed. In fact, we weren’t intending to sell house, were considering options of selling an adjoining block of land, intended to sell it and putting the proceeds into the loan, which would have left us a with a great rental home with (we expected) less than $50,000 owing on it. We asked 3 Real Estaties for values for the land, and were made an offer that way exceeded our expectations for both house & spare block. Contract was signed on same day. We now realise how not smart we were!!
TerryW, Thank You for your comments also. But would you clarify what “unconditional” means please? Does that mean “on settlement day”, or does it mean, “when buyer’s finance has been approved, and we have completed the last few jobs stated in Contract”, which were the 2 clauses in the standard 30 day Contract? Hubby wants to put this one down to experience as you said, but I just want to ensure there are no options left for us to salvage that money.

Hi Simon, It is very re-assuring to hear your suggestions – I had thought along the same lines myself, reno + IP’s as we went along. It had also occurred to me – while we were doing a reno, we would have no income, hence IP’s as we could find them. Wow, you did really well with your reno Simon, that is great news!!!! Just proves we are all different people – while poor old Steve faltered with his reno, you have shone! Thank You, you have been great, Simon.[]

Hi Simon, Thank You for that. We did think of doing some renovation homes and just move from one to the next as PPOR. We are in QLD, and moving to Toowoomba. Arnitrav